Dr Steven Owen

About me:

Steven is a Knowledge Exchange Officer/Research Fellow on the ENLIVEN project. The project aims to increase access to natural environments for older people experiencing cognitive impairment.

Career:

Prior to joining the Business School Steven worked with Professor Donna Chambers exploring the memories of people who volunteered at the 2018 Tall Ship Festival in Sunderland. The project identified the (dis)connections and embodied experiences of volunteers to each other, the event and Sunderland as a place. This helped Sunderland Council understand how their volunteers experience an event and also the publication of 2 academic journal articles (See details below).

Steven has also worked with Professor Nina Laurie and Dr Sharon Leahy to examine volunteer tourism in two indigenous communities in Ecuador. Adopting the indigenous knowledge system of ‘Buen Vivir’ the project examined stakeholders experiences and understandings of how this tourism practice manifests in host communities. This developed our understanding of how volunteer tourism can unsettle rather than reinforce existing inequalities at the global and local level.